EC denials over Coughlan request

EUROPEAN Commission sources denied they had requested the Government to send Tánaiste Mary Coughlan as the next Irish Commissioner to Brussels.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has asked member states to nominate a woman if possible to ensure gender balance in the new team.

Suggestions that he is earmarking the Agriculture portfolio for an Irish nominee were also denied and the commission said he would not distribute jobs until he had the full list of people from member states.

“The formal process has not yet begun and it is up to the government to nominate a person and up to the president to distribute the portfolios,” a spokesperson said adding that Mr Barroso cannot do anything until he knows who the team is likely to be — starting with the new High Representative for External Relations.

But in informal talks between senior commission and government people, the issue of who would be available and what responsibilities they could assume could arise, a source said.

The Tánaiste had a rough ride as agriculture minister when the reforms to the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy were going through. Later she had a bruising encounter with the then trade commissioner Peter Mandelson when she met him to discuss his attitude towards the WTO Doha round.

Irish advisers have not been pushing for agriculture as it is seen as something of a poisoned chalice given that the budget runs out in 2013 and negotiations on a new one will have to begin before that.

The favourite for Ireland’s commissioner is former Fianna Fáil justice minister Máire Geoghegan Quinn who is in the EU’s Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. She looked after agricultural expenditure for a time and could possibly be offered the agriculture portfolio.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is not expected to announce his choice until shortly before the EU is ready to move ahead with a new commission.